Rockjaw

 You've just been nominated for a Viveport Developer Award, how do you feel? Glorious! We are still an early access app, so to be considered in this category is a great honor. Where did the idea for Kodon come from? The idea was based on our own development team's need to create 3D models. The supreme user experience provided by the Vive seemed to be the perfect combination. We made a demo video on Reddit that caused a lot of attention, and many people asked us to release an early version. How big is your team and how long did it take to develop? We have a team of 4 people with various associates. Kodon is about 5 months into development, but it is not done yet. Tell us something about Kodon that we wouldn’t know from just experiencing it on Viveport? Kodon works quite well for 3D-printing. Try it! During the development process, did anything surprise you along the way you didn’t expect? The amount of people who wanted to try it in Early Access! What do you hope people take away from Kodon overall? I hope Kodon demonstrates the professional future of VR as a tool. Are you planning future updates and adding more features to Kodon? Yes! We are at v0.50 and we're released at v1.0. So keep expecting more! What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen built? I think the most weirdest thing I've seen is this 3D-printed alien gnome flower pot (Imgur link):  What’s one piece of advice you’d give to other developers? Don't underestimate the ambitions and dreams of VR users! They are going to imagine doing stuff with your program that you never even considered. Kodon is available on Viveport.

 You’ve just been nominated for a Viveport Developer Award - how do you feel? Mac Cauley, Borrowed Light Studios: It's an honor to be nominated for the Viveport Developer Awards with so much great content coming out every day that is pushing the boundaries of VR. I think VR as a medium has so much potential to open up new ways for people to express themselves and share ideas. I feel lucky to be a part of this discovery process and to be able to explore the possibilities that lie ahead. Where did the idea for The Night Café come from? I originally envisioned The Night Café as a narrative short film about a fictional painter inspired by Vincent van Gogh. I thought it would be interesting to see the world from the perspective of such a unique viewpoint, and in the film I imagined traveling into this character's mind to see these wonderful visions. At the same time I was developing the film idea, I was beginning to think more about VR and the opportunities it presented and I decided it would be an interesting experience to explore this painted world in a very interactive and immersive way. It became clear to me that I wanted to walk through one of Van Gogh's paintings myself and I imagined how that might feel. How big is your team and how long did it take to develop? I made The Night Café myself in my spare time. I probably put 6 months of work into it. Tell us something about The Night Café that we wouldn’t know from just experiencing it on Viveport? I actually put a lot of time into researching the paintings as well as Van Gogh's life and the time period he painted in. There were many details that I included that were not in the original paintings such as back rooms, the piano player, the style of lamps that were used, and many other small details. I tried to make sure everything felt unified with his paintings by choosing colors that would blend in with his. The experience is directly inspired by his work and I wanted to be respectful of that while allowing myself some creative freedom. During the development process, did anything surprise you along the way you didn’t expect? The Night Café was one of the first projects I made in VR and so I was constantly learning the development process as I went along. One of the things that I found interesting was just how important the scale of objects and characters were to creating an enjoyable experience. I often found myself creating models that were too big initially and had to scale them down a bit so their presence in the scene felt more natural and comfortable. What do you hope people take away from The Night Café overall? My primary goal for The Night Café was to create a space for people to enter that felt alive in some way, and kind of like a lost moment in time that they were able to step into and stay in, if only for a few minutes. I imagined Vincent van Gogh there in the cafe, pondering his life and the world around him. As I created the experience I had many moments of connecting with the paintings in new ways by spending time with each little detail and imagining what might have gone through his mind as he painted them. Are you planning future updates and adding more features to The Night Cafe? I am currently working on a new game that allows you to explore procedurarly generated haunted houses in VR and trap ghosts while searching for hidden artifacts. It's called Spectro and we will be releasing it next year for Vive and other headsets. Once that is done I would consider adding to The Night Café or creating a follow up to that type of experience if it seemed like it was something people wanted. I had so much fun creating the painterly world and I could easily imagine a much bigger space to explore with characters and environments inspired by a variety of well known painters. What’s been the best reaction you’ve had to the experience? I once received a letter from a Van Gogh historian who had tried VR for the first time after being quite skeptical of the medium. She told me her friend wanted to show her a variety of experiences and after trying The Night Café she lost track of time in the headset. At that point she realized all the possibilities the technology could offer for experiencing not just entertainment but art and education as well. It was a very encouraging note to get from an unexpected place and really reaffirmed for me just how powerful these experiences can be. What’s one piece of advice you’d give to other developers? With the medium in such an early stage of development there is so much to be explored and discovered. No one has all the answers yet and the standards are still being developed and refined every day. With that in mind, don't just listen to others - try out new ideas and see what works for you! What is your favorite Van Gogh masterpiece? That's a tough one! It really depends on my mood but I would say "Olive Trees in a Mountainous Landscape" (digitally viewable here) is definitely near the top of my list. His self portraits are also amazing and really give you a sense of who he was. The Night Café is available on Viveport.

 For those of you in the US - Happy Thanksgiving! To kick off the holiday celebrations, we’re pleased to announce our Black Friday & Cyber Monday deals. Save on HTC Vive  On both Black Friday and Cyber Monday wherever Vive is sold, you will save $100 (£100/€100 or equivalent local currency) either directly off the price, or through an in-store coupon, while supplies last. Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals are available online and in all retail locations where Vive is sold, including Microsoft Stores, Amazon.com, Gamestop, Newegg.com, Micro-center, and Vive.com. In addition, for the first time, Vive will be available for sale in 34 Fry’s locations across the US and online. To find a location to purchase Vive near you, click here. Vive Online Availability: Vive.com Microsoft Stores Amazon GameStop Newegg.com Micro Center Frys Save on VR apps in Viveport Our deals don't stop there! Build up your VR library with some great titles from Viveport this holiday weekend. Here's how you can save. The Black Friday Viveport Bundle Get three VR titles for just $5 (or equivalent). Make some noise (virtually) with SoundStage; paint in ways you've never experienced with Arcade Artist and relax during your holiday with Lumen. Separately these titles retail for almost $20, but this weekend you can pick them all up together for just $5. Click here to get this Black Friday Bundle! Save 50% on over 20 apps on Viveport As well as the Black Friday Bundle we're letting you save 50% on over 20 VR apps in Viveport this weekend. The full list of titles is as follows: A Chair in a Room: Greenwater Adventurous Life VR Apollo 11 VR C O S M Worlds Within Worlds Cloudlands: VR Minigolf Cmoar VR Cinema Daylight’s End (US only) DrumKit VR Emily Wants to Play Firebird - La Péri The Grand Canyon VR Experience Heaven Island Life Konrad the Kitten Oneiric Sculptures – Rodin Potioneer: The VR Gardening Simulator Ricerca VR Star Chart Stars Think Space Toon Ocean VV player World of Diving Spend $30 on Viveport, get $10 credit back Feel tempted by those titles above? Here's another great reason to stock up: if you spend $30 (£25/€30 or local currency equivalent) or more between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, you will get $10 (£10/€10 or local currency equivalent) back in your Viveport wallet as credit, 10 days after the promotional period ends. (Please note, you can only receive a maximum of $10 credit.) New to Viveport? If you've just picked up your Vive and are about to experience virtual reality for the first time, or if you've never installed Viveport - click here and select 'Download Vive Software' to get Viveport. Need some help finding your new Viveport purchases? We have an FAQ for that. We hope you enjoy these Black Friday deals. Join us in the forums to discuss what you picked up! The Viveport Team

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Hey  - sorry about all the work you've had to do here! Sounds like you've checked a lot of things, but have you spoken to Customer Care directly?

Today we're announcing another four VDA nominees as we enter the final days of judging. These four titles will transport you to new worlds, allow you to create and experience places you might never go in real life. We're proud to welcome them, taking our total nominations to 16. The nominees are:  Kodon, by TenkLabs  The Night Cafe: A VR Tribute to Van Gogh, by Borrowed Light Studios  Realities, by realities.io  World of Diving, by Vertigo Games Congratulations to our latest round of nominees. If you haven't experienced these titles yet, make sure you get them on Viveport. If you missed our previous nominees, here they are so far: Allumette Altspace VR Apollo 11 VR Arcade Artist Cloudlands: VR Minigolf Fantastic Contraption Firebird - La Péri Mars Odyssey Pearl SoundStage SurrealVR The Body VR We'll have some exciting announcements to share soon about our judges and our community choice award - so stay tuned, and feel free to comment below about these latest nominees! The Viveport Team

 Congratulations, you’ve just been nominated for a Viveport Developer Award. How do you feel? We are super happy! A tremendous amount of work and care has been put in by the whole team in France and in the US to bring Firebird : La Péri to life, and it feels terrific to know that our experience is being nominated alongside other great pieces! Where did the idea for Firebird: La Péri come from? It all came from Paul Duka's music, which essentially became the script for the whole experience. The music stirred up images of a grandiose, magical story in the mind of Balthazar Auxietre, Innerspace's co-founder and CCO. How could we bring justice to such a beautiful piece ? How could we enable the viewer to experience the music, the story and the "on-stage" experience of this ballet piece ? Those were the key questions that drove the creative process. Paul Dukas who composed La Péri, is also the composer of The Sorcerer's Apprentice, the key piece of Disney's Fantasia. Back then Fantasia was something new, the love child of Walt Disney's creative ambition and drive for innovation. It was made from the beginning to exploit a medium, animated motion pictures, which faced skepticism as a viable entertainment platform and eventually took the entertainment world by storm. In that way it seems quite fitting to use Duka's work in VR, which is facing similar challenges while showing unprecedented potential. How big is your team and how long did Firebird : La Péri take to develop? Firebird : La Péri was developed by a team of 10 people over the course of 12 months. Crafting this experience was a long process, since the project was in constant R&D mode, with new ideas coming up and being implemented along the way. The team at Innerspace is growing and we are much more efficient now but taking the high road was an essential part of creating the experience and honing our skills as VR entertainment creators. Tell us something about Firebird : La Péri that we wouldn’t know from just experiencing it on Viveport. The book, which is so central in Firebird : La Péri, was actually a very late addition in the development process. It fits so naturally in the narration and the experience that it might seem unthinkable that it was not present until the final release. But now it's here, right at the center of the piece, and our artists and designers have done an amazing job on it - I suggest viewers actually take the time to scroll through the pages and look at the illustrations in it! During the development process, did anything surprise you along the way you didn’t expect? The overwhelming feeling of immersion the motion-captured ballerina brought to the piece, was a great surprise. We felt like we had something really cool that surpassed our expectations, and that it was essential to get it out of our studio and bring it to audiences worldwide. What do you hope people take away from Firebird: La Péri overall? First and foremost we hope that users love the experience, and that it feels fresh and new and beautiful to them. The second thing we want people to realize is that VR can truly be a platform for meaningful and compelling entertainment for everyone, not just an amazing technology. Are you planning future updates and adding more features to Firebird: La Péri? Or what’s next for InnerspaceVR? Firebird is VR's franchise for classical music and visually stunning entertainment pieces. We are already hard at work on the future episodes to be released in 2017 so if you love Firebird : La Péri and want to see more, stay tuned ! What's been the best reaction you’ve heard about Firebird: La Péri? I love that people immediately personify the characters in Firebird : La Péri. Many times we've had users tell us they wish they could stay longer with La Péri, that they were falling in love with her. What’s one piece of advice you’d give to other developers? Be daring. Try things that are new, that seem scary, and test your ideas early at a small scale before expanding them. There are a lot of amazing VR pieces out there, but still innumerable new ideas that haven't been tried out yet - the tools and technology are here and more affordable than ever, so there is no reason not to try building something crazy! Firebird: La Peri is available to download on Viveport.

 You’ve just been nominated for a Viveport Developer Award. How do you feel? It’s a great honor, of course. VR is simply the most exciting field of work right now, and to be nominated in the space by the folks that have built the best platform available today is just a great feeling. Where did the idea for SurrealVR come from? We came from a social gaming background, and we’ve always known that combining social, gaming and virtual reality will create an unbeatable combination. Once the hardware started becoming available, we dropped everything to pursue it. How big is your team and how long did it take to develop? We started as two founders, and we’re six now. The two founders have worked together for the better part of a decade, and we’ve recruited others that we knew from the game developer community. Tell us something about SurrealVR that we wouldn’t know from just experiencing it on Viveport. What you see in SurrealVR is still just a fraction of the capabilities of our platform, as we’ve had to make difficult prioritization choices as we scale. So far, we’ve been primarily focused on creating the building blocks. During the development process, did anything surprise you along the way you didn’t expect? Like everyone, we’ve had to learn that storytelling is different in VR. It’s one thing to just say it. It’s another thing to experience the challenges first hand. What do you hope people take away from SurrealVR overall? We hope people get excited about the possibilities of Social VR, of enjoying the magic together. Are you planning future updates and adding more features to SurrealVR? We have a number of very exciting updates planned, including full games within the platform. What’s one piece of advice you’d give to other developers? The number one piece of advice I would give to developers is learn from the work of others. There’s a lot of experimentation going on in the space, it’s happening at a very fast pace, and we’re all learning and improving together. SurrealVR is available to download on Viveport.

 Congratulations, you’ve just been nominated for a Viveport Developer Award. How do you feel? We're super honored to be selected! I hope awards like the VDAs help bring attention to all the diverse and wonderful VR experiences coming out this year. Where did the idea for Fantastic Contraption come from? The idea for the original 2008 2D Fantastic Contraption actually came from a dream! It was to turn a Rube Goldberg machine inside out: instead of creating a complex environment for a simple ball to roll through, you create a smart ball (eg a car or contraption) which has to roll/walk/tumble/smash its way through each level. We first conceived of adapting it to VR just a few days after trying the Vive for the first time. Our minds were blown by experiences like Tilt Brush, and we wanted to create something that would use roomscale to its fullest potential. How big is your team and how long did it take to develop? Our team is 4-5 people, Half from Radial Games and half from Northway Games. The game took roughly 9 months to make, although we're still working on updates. Tell us something about Fantastic Contraption that we wouldn’t know from just experiencing it on Viveport. We've put a lot of effort into developing tools to help film and stream mixed-reality footage of Fantastic Contraption, because we believe this is the best way to explain roomscale VR to anyone who hasn't tried it. We ran a mixed-reality development Twitch stream for much of the game's development. During the development process, did anything surprise you along the way you didn’t expect? We were thrilled (and surprised!) to have Fantastic Contraption bundled with the HTC Vive when it launched. What do you hope people take away from Fantastic Contraption overall? We want people to enjoy existing and playing with the world of Fantastic Contraption as much as they enjoy beating the puzzles. Are you planning future updates and adding more features to Fantastic Contraption? Or what’s next for Northway Games? We have two major updates in the pipe: one adds support for standing scale and smaller play spaces including seated. After that we'll release a level editor, so that players can create their own challenges and spaces to play in. What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen built? A walking beast, designed after one of Theo Jansen's wind-powered Strandbeests. They look surprisingly organic and lifelike. (See an example of Strandbeests in action below.) What’s one piece of advice you’d give to other developers? If you're getting into VR, now is the time to experiment. In many ways this is an entirely new medium, and there are a lot of things that haven't been tried yet (or even thought of!). Fantastic Contraption is available to download on Viveport.

Eight fantastic VR titles have already been announced as Viveport Developer Award (VDA) nominees, all potentially able to share in $500,000 worth of prizes. Today we're adding to that total with four more titles, all great examples of how you can explore worlds, create things, connect with friends and experience stories in VR, via Viveport. The nominees are:  SurrealVR, by SurrealVR Firebird - La Peri, by InnerspaceVR (A note for anyone who picked up Firebird - La Peri in our launch sale: an initial language issue has been resolved. Update or re-download Firebird for the latest version.) Apollo 11 VR, by Immersive VR Education Ltd.  Fantastic Contraption, by Northway Games Congratulations to all of our nominees, and we wish you all the best of luck in the upcoming VDA finals! If you haven't checked out these experiences on Viveport, click the links above to see them for yourself. We'd love to hear your comments and see your reviews - feel free to leave comments below. Did you miss our previous nominees? Check out our first and second blog posts to see what other VR experiences have been nominated. We'll see you in VR! The Viveport Team

 You’ve just been nominated for a Viveport Developer Award - how do you feel? It's an incredible honor to be nominated for a Viveport Developer Award. The entire development team is ecstatic as this is something very much unexpected. Congratulations and good luck to all of the other nominees. Where did the idea for Cloudlands: VR Minigolf come from? When we got our hands on one of the first HTC Vive prototypes we went on a prototyping spree of about 10 different unique-to-motion-control game mechanics such as golfing, baseball, bowling, sword fighting, racquet sports, throwing games, and more. We're a relatively small game team and many of us love golfing. We initially attempted a full on golfing game but settled on the more accessible minigolf genre. Minigolf allowed us to keep the core "golf" mechanic, while exploring much more fantastical environments that wouldn't be possible in the real world. The game started small in scope but after concepting the level editor we realized putting the creative power into the hands of our players was going to produce infinitely more creative levels than our small design team could ever create. How big is your team and how long did it take to develop? The Cloudlands core dev team consisted of about 7 people, though we had 14 people touching the project at different times throughout the dev cycle helping with the multiplayer programming, marketing, and performance testing. We started development of Cloudlands in August 2015 and released our launch version in April 2016. The level editor was in development from February 2016 until September 2016 and is still on-going. Tell us something about Cloudlands: VR Minigolf that we wouldn’t know from just experiencing it on Viveport? The game art in Cloudlands had to be completely re-done about a month before launch. Stress! We had been developing under the impression that the min spec for VR would be a GTX980 graphics card and we had good performance on that card. However, upon discovering the min spec would be GTX970 graphics cards it forced us to re-create our entire lighting pipeline, redo all the levels, and also change a lot of the art to be more performant. The art team was working around the clock to get it ready for launch. It turns out hitting 90fps can be quite challenging when you also want to push visual quality. During the development process, did anything surprise you along the way you didn’t expect? Our initial vision for what the level editor would be, was more of a grid based block snapping tool with the pieces in a menu attached to your hand. It was meant to be fairly simple and a quick addition to the game. However, our designer/engineer working on the level editor had different plans and ended up prototyping this really fantastic and intuitive system for grabbing pieces out of a shelf and snapping them free-form at a smaller scale, which you can then play instantly. The tool continued to grow and ended up being a much more complex feature than originally intended but I think the final product is something we are all extremely proud of. What do you hope people take away from Cloudlands: VR Minigolf overall? It's pretty common to have people play and say "Wow, that was way better than I thought. Really fun!" We get it. It's minigolf. And for VR it seems like it wouldn't be anything special, but so many players come out having had a really fun time playing a game they're familiar with, but thrown into crazy impossible real world user generated golf courses. Are you planning future updates and adding more features to Cloudlands: VR Minigolf? Or what’s next for Futuretown? The level editor is still relatively new and we're continually listening to the community and incorporating game feedback into the build. We're currently spending the majority of our time on a new unannounced project. If you could have anyone famous play a round of Cloudlands: VR Minigolf who would it be? It would probably be Fumito Ueda or Jonathan Blow. Both game design legends and we've learned a lot from them over the past 10 years as independent developers. I'd love to hear their thoughts on the game and interaction design we've crafted. What’s one piece of advice you’d give to other developers? The VR market is extremely small at this time. Make sure your game design considers who the VR market is and make sure you have a realistic understanding of how many copies you'll be able to sell. This will inform your development design and schedule to make sure you're creating a product that can be financially successful and allow you to continue creating games. Cloudlands: VR Minigolf is available to download on Viveport.

 You’ve just been nominated for a Viveport Developer Award, how do you feel? Wow, this is such a nice surprise! Viveport has been such a generous partner to us, and we feel extremely honored! Where did the idea for Allumette come from? Loosely inspired by The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen, Allumette is an account of the love family members have for one another, and the sacrifices and choices they make for the greater good. Tell us something about Allumette that we wouldn’t know from just experiencing it on Viveport? Here’s a bit of Penrose Studios trivia! Before we named the piece Allumette, we referred to it as Project Rope, like the Hitchcock film. Why did we give it that name? When you experience Allumette, you have scenes with continuous presence. We didn’t use any cinematic “cuts” within the scenes themselves--it’s a smooth, continuous experience, just like Rope. During the development process, did anything surprise you along the way you didn’t expect? Coming from a CG animation background, you could take hours to render each frame without any problem. In VR, you only have a small fraction of a second for each frame! Adjusting to the performance requirements of this new medium was difficult, and required using new techniques for particularly complex elements like the clouds. To do this, we had to invent some new rendering techniques to get the soft and fluffy look you’d expect. What do you hope people take away from Allumette overall? We are developing a new platform for storytelling. Allumette is a story everyone can enjoy and appreciate, no matter their age or where they live in the world. After experiencing Allumette, we hope people will embrace this new medium and will share our excitement for the future of VR storytelling. Are you planning future updates and adding more features to Allumette? Or what’s next for Penrose? Right now we’re focused on celebrating the worldwide launch of Allumette, which took place earlier this month. Stay tuned for more Penrose Studios news soon! If you could have anyone experience Allumette who would it be? Hans Christian Andersen! What’s one piece of advice you’d give to other developers? Watch your work iteratively and often in VR, and try not to rely too heavily on composing your scenes on a 2D screen. It is important to preview your work on the devices you will be showing it with since things always appear different in VR, and tweaks are constantly necessary. Also, take the performance requirements of VR seriously, and don’t underestimate the power and resources you’ll need to make a great piece. This can save a lot of time on optimizing down the road if you stick to the budgets for polygon count, shader complexity, fx, etc.

 You’ve just been nominated for a Viveport Developer Award, how do you feel? It feels amazing to be nominated. As an artist and creator it is wonderful to be recognized. We put so much time and love and energy into our work and it's great to have that be appreciated. Where did the idea for Arcade Artist come from? We wanted to make a world that you could feel transported to and also create something that was just a fun escape. I love the feeling of holding a tool in your hand in VR and being able to look at the details and for that tool to be something that you can actually use. How big is your team and how long did it take to develop? There were two main developers and then a small amount of additional artists as we needed them. In all, the team at its largest was probably eight people. We spent about six months on it. Tell us something about Arcade Artist that we wouldn’t know from just experiencing it on Viveport? I guess that the amount of hours that went into it would be surprising to most people. During the development process, did anything surprise you along the way you didn’t expect? We are constantly pushing the envelope artistically so we are learning everyday how to balance the art and performance aspect. What differentiates Arcade Artists from other creativity experiences? I think the quality of our work is at the top and I am very proud of the team and the work. What do you hope people take away from Arcade Artist overall? The biggest thing that I want people to do when they play Arcade Artist is smile! Are you planning future updates and adding more features to Arcade Artist? Absolutely! We have some really fun new features in store and we are also going to be making Arcade Artist a full multiplayer and social experience. If you could have anyone experience Arcade Artist who would it be? Hmmm....I guess Steven Spielberg! What’s one piece of advice you’d give to other developers? Just do it. It's trite, but jump in and fail fast and learn and go for it. Arcade Artist is available now on Viveport.

You’ve just been nominated for a Viveport Developer award - how do you feel? We’re exhausted! Also very excited that Mars Odyssey has been well received. We’re very proud of the team and the passion project they’ve brought to life. Where did the idea for Mars Odyssey come from? We’ve always had a strong passion for education and science. Joshua Qualtieri, one of our studio co-founders, studied Astrophysics in college with the goal of eventually working for NASA on their Mars missions, but instead he ended up making films and games. Using VR to experience Mars and simulate space exploration has been a dream come true for Joshua and Steel Wool Studios. Do you really think there is life on Mars? We think it’s possible. If there is life on Mars, it is some form of super hardy microbial organism that’s yet to be discovered. There’s a lot of interest in Mars these days. If Mars Odyssey can add to that excitement and motivate someone in the not too distant future to get on a rocket to have a look around on Mars, that would be awesome. How big is your team and how long did it take to develop? The Mars Odyssey team is relatively small. About eight or nine members were involved with the project from beginning to end. In total, it took about 10 months to develop and put final touches on the project working on it part-time for most of the Mars Odyssey team. Tell us something about Mars Odyssey that we wouldn’t know from just experiencing it on Viveport? Mars Odyssey was built to possibly be part of a larger educational narrative structure. In Mars Odyssey you are simply “The Traveler” and your guide is “Athena”. Our concept is to continue developing educational simulations in which the Traveler and Athena jump from experience to experience, not just space exploration themes. Think “Quantum Leap” meets The Discovery Channel. During the development process, did anything surprise you along the way you didn’t expect? Actually, we never realized how large Olympus Mons and Valles Marineris truly are. Mars is a little over half the size of Earth but it is home to the largest volcano and canyon in the solar system. What do you hope people take away from Mars Odyssey overall? I hope that people find Mars as fascinating as we do. We get so focused on our lives that we sometimes forget to look up at the night sky. We are amazing, albeit flawed, creatures. We have landed humans on our Moon, shot probes deep into space, and sent robots to Mars, concepts that even now sound insane if you really think about it. Mars is an incredible world and worth exploring. Landing humans on Mars will teach and further inspire us. We are not meant to stay solely on Earth; hopefully we’ll soon take those first steps towards the Red planet. Are you planning future updates and adding more features to Mars Odyssey? What’s next for Steel Wool? There are some tweaks we have in an upcoming patch to allow the player to replay the Rover and Lander sequences without having to accomplish the tasks -- tourist mode, essentially. Beyond that, we’re gearing up for our next project coming out later this year, Bounce. It’s a VR physics-based puzzle adventure that’s getting great feedback. It’s totally different from Mars Odyssey, but that’s one of the best parts about being an independent studio - we get to work on cool stuff that excites us. If you could have anyone experience Mars Odyssey who would it be? Has Matt Damon tried it yet? Unfortunately, Matt hasn’t returned our calls, yet. If we could have anyone experience Mars Odyssey, we’d be honored to help Buzz Aldrin to virtually step onto the surface of the red planet. What’s one piece of advice you’d give to other developers? Keep your artists and engineers collaborating at all times. It’s important for us that both groups understand each other's concerns, and learn from each other. Mars Odyssey is available now on Viveport.

We're thrilled to announce the second wave of nominees for the Viveport Developer Awards (VDAs). Each of these VR experiences brings a new and exciting dimension to Viveport, and we're proud to support them. The nominees are:  Allumette, by Penrose Studios  Cloudlands: VR Minigolf, by Futuretown  Mars Odyssey, by Steel Wool Studios  Arcade Artist, by Groove Jones Fantastic titles like these enable VR fans like you to Explore Worlds, Create Things, Connect with Friends and Experience Stories, so we congratulate these developers on their accomplishments. If you haven’t installed these titles already, check them out via the links above. We can’t wait to see your feedback about these apps on Viveport. Remember that we also have a Community Choice category, so make sure to let us know about your favorite VR content. We are grateful to all of you for joining us on this journey to amazing destinations. The Viveport Team

 Our team loves Halloween, so we’re stoked to announce Fright Fest on Viveport with some new, scary destinations at spooktacular prices. Get these spine-tingling titles this week: A Chair in a Room: Greenwater, by Wolf & Wood Interactive – 25% Discount Daylight’s End VR Edition, by Groove Jones - 80% Discount Emily Wants to Play, by SKH Apps – 80% Discount The Night The Carsons Disappeared, by NostalgicBear VR – 50% Discount Horror Experiences Invisible & The Game in Jaunt VR, by Jaunt – Free Our Halloween promotions are available now, and the sale ends on Tuesday night (11/1). Be sure to visit http://www.vive.com/setup/ to install and set up the Vive software, which will also install the Viveport desktop app on your computer. If you are out trick-or-treating, you can use the Viveport app on your Android phone to choose anything in the store and queue it up in your library for when return. Whether you spend Halloween in VR or the real world (or a combination of both) we hope you have a fright-tastic time! Happy Halloween! The Viveport Team

Thanks for letting me know. Did you try uninstalling Steam itself?

Hi there . I'm afraid there's no tool available to remove everything Vive related. You've got multiple software components here including Steam itself. From your list of steps it sounds like you uninstalled SteamVR, but there are some config files left in the Steam install even after that's done. These shouldn't cause the issues you're talking about, but to be sure, you might consider uninstalling Steam itself, not just SteamVR. Regarding your headset issues, you said you've tried all the standard recommendations but I have to ask - have you done a cable check, including trying a different USB port? More often than not, that's where we find most headset issues coming from.

, did you completely uninstall Steam as well? SteamVR is a component here. If not, definitely give that a try. Unfortunately a complete wipe might be required. Have you also contacted Customer Care in case it's a hardware issue? Their contact details are in my sig.

 Arcade Artist Step into a fantastical place where you can imagine, create art, and cause chaos. Arcade Artist combines the unique exploration of a creative playground along with casual arcade activities that makes this VR experience perfect for all ages.  Cmoar VR Cinema Bring the atmosphere of the cinema straight to your home with Cmoar CR Cinema. Relax and enjoy glorious battles, romantic finales or comedic moments from your favorite movies.  Star Chart Explore the solar system and night sky in a beautiful and accurate real-time simulation. Star Chart allows you to immerse yourself as a virtual astronaut traveling through space – embrace the final frontier.  The Grand Canyon VR Experience Transport yourself on an epic journey into the heart of the Grand Canyon. Explore a fully dynamic and interactive living world!  Toon Ocean VR Toon Ocean VR is a collection of four magical experiences where you meet friendly inhabitants of the ocean, play with a turtle, and practice your accuracy by throwing pearls into seashells. These deals come to an end on Sunday, October 23 at 11:59pm PT.

Arcade Artist Step into a fantastical place where you can imagine, create art, and cause chaos. Arcade Artist combines the unique exploration of a creative playground along with casual arcade activities that makes this VR experience perfect for all ages. Cmoar VR Cinema Bring the atmosphere of the cinema straight to your home with Cmoar CR Cinema. Relax and enjoy glorious battles, romantic finales, comedic moments from your favorite movies. Star Chart Explore the solar system and night sky in a beautiful and accurate real-time simulation. Star Chart allows you to immerse yourself as a virtual astronaut traveling through space – embrace the final frontier. The Grand Canyon VR Experience Transport yourself on an epic journey into the heart of the Grand Canyon. Explore a fully dynamic and interactive living world! Toon Ocean VR A collection of four magical experiences where you meet friendly inhabitants of the ocean, play with a turtle, and practice your accuracy by throwing pearls into seashells. These deals come to an end on Sunday, October 23 at 11:59pm PT.

Please help us celebrate the individuals and teams behind Pearl from Google Spotlight Stories, The Body VR, Soundstage and AltspaceVR. Give ‘em a round of applause! We can’t hear you… now that’s more like it.  Pearl is our first nominee in the Experience category. It is a touching story of father and daughter; of chasing dreams; of the power of love in the gifts we hand down… and finding grace in the unlikeliest of places. Learn more about Pearl from the team at Google Spotlight Stories in our Q&A Experience Pearl by downloading it from Viveport  The Body VR gets our nod in the Explore category. VR has the power to make educational content resonate like none other, and the team at The Body VR makes learning about the human body both educational and entertaining. Learn more about The Body VR in our Q&A Explore The Body VR by downloading it from Viveport  SoundStage hits just the right note in the ‘Create’ category. Set in an ever-uplifting world inspired by the 80s, Soundstage enables anyone from the hobbyist to the professional DJ to make music. Hear more about SoundStage in our Q&A Rock out with SoundStage by downloading it from Viveport  AltspaceVR is pioneering in the Connect category and earns our nomination. From hanging with your friends, to enjoying a comedy show, to being part of the political movement via their partnership with NBC News, AltspaceVR is leading social VR. Learn more about AltspaceVR in our Q&A Enter Altspace and experience it for yourself by downloading it from Viveport These talented individuals and organizations are driving VR innovation and creating apps that inspire and entertain. The Viveport Developer Awards were established to recognize such accomplishments and over the next few weeks we will be sharing more nominees who are leading the way in virtual reality. All nominees will be reviewed by a soon-to-be-revealed jury and official winners will announced early 2017.

Hey  - not an expert on this, so perhaps others can weigh in. Can you clarify what you're trying to look at? Actual 3D files, or images projected in 3D? For 3D files, something like Sketchfab might work?